For many fans, mixed martial arts (MMA) runs a close second to the NFL, with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pitting the some of the world’s best athletes against each other in a controlled fight inside an eight-sided ring, with no exits.

Always eager to stay one step ahead of their competition, several NFL players turned to MMA as a part of their off-season training a few years back, and quickly realized the benefits.

Increased stamina, balance, and leverage are but a few of the positive attributes cited by participating players, and while the idea of having million-dollar superstars using a violent sport to assist in their training would seemingly run opposite to most teams, the Atlanta Falcons have embraced it as a whole.

The lead trainer for the group has been Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, who has had a long-standing passion for MMA and together with UFC champion Randy Couture, founded MMAthletics to bring the training used by fighters to athletes in other sports.

“If you hit me once, I’m gonna hit you back five times. When the cage door shuts, your job is to break the will of the man across from you. It’s the same with football. When the game starts, essentially that cage door shuts. It’s your responsibility not to lose. We find what a player’s breaking point is and re-establish it every few days. By the end, football has become easy.”

“I’m training (Houston Texans linebacker) Brian Cushing in Los Angeles. When he went back to the Texans’ OTA practices, he called and said he couldn’t believe how easy it was. He was the only guy not huffing and puffing.”

– Fox Sports reporter/MMAthletics founder Jay Glazer

The players involved do not spar with each other, as would be the norm with UFC contenders, but instead employ multiple training techniques that have been tweaked to fit the skills needed in football. The training has won over both head coach Mike Smith and general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who have raved about its popularity with players and the results.

“I’m very impressed with what’s happened the first two weeks. I think the players are really enjoying it. It’s just another part of their repertoire of things they can do to prepare themselves for a long 16-game season.”

– Atlanta head coach Mike Smith

Currently the Falcons are the only team in the league to employ the training as an organization, but Glazer is scheduled to begin training with another club in the near future. That team was not named at this point.

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